Maple Leaf Gardens: A 1931 time capsule unveiled, including a mysterious ivory elephant

Maple Leaf Gardens: Time capsule and the mystery of the ivory elephant

By Nida Siddiqui

For all the suspense surrounding the contents of a time capsule buried decades ago at Maple Leaf Gardens, one of hockey’s most revered buildings, it was a small ivory elephant that dominated conversation after a public unveiling at Ryerson University Thursday.

The small, white trinket, made with fragments of blue ribbon, was among a dozen items — including hockey rule books and newspapers that looked aged but remain legible — in a 1931 time capsule found behind a cornerstone during the overhaul of landmark building.

Was the elephant placed in the weathered, copper box to symbolize wisdom? Is it a good luck charm? A family heirloom? Or just a joke?

Even the descendants of Conn Smythe, known as the man who built Maple Leaf Gardens, could not offer a definitive answer to the mystery.

Said his 84-year-old son, Hugh Arthur Smythe, who served as team doctor of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s: “It symbolizes the strong relationship between my father and a man that he met in a First World War prison camp.” This friend, who was in the import-export business, visited the Smythe family in Toronto several times and would often send carved ivory presents.

But Christie Smythe, one of the great-grandchildren of the former Leafs owner, had a different explanation: “I heard a theory from my aunt Mary … that Conn’s wife Irene had a collection of elephants and had an affinity to them. Perhaps it was just part of her collection.”

Maple Leafs team historian Mike Ferriman suggested Smythe may have included the white elephant as a symbolic nod to those who thought the Gardens was destined to be exactly that.

“My guess is that it was Conn’s way of mocking anyone who thought the Gardens was going to become a white elephant, which it obviously didn’t,” Mr. Ferriman said, noting Smythe would not have placed the trinket in the time capsule without a reason. “Many would have predicted it would become a white elephant — building an arena of that magnitude, in that economic climate for a franchise that had switched hands and names twice in a decade.”

But hockey historian Kevin Shea, who wrote a book on the Smythe family, disputed the theory, calling it “possible but doubtful” that the ivory carving was linked to criticism of the Gardens.

“[Smythe] was immensely proud of the extraordinary accomplishment and silenced his critics well before the opening,” Mr. Shea said. His research has never unveiled anything about elephants in tandem with Smythe or the Leafs, so the inclusion of the tiny trinket remains a mystery to him.

“Whether it is a Masonic symbol or tribute to the hard work put into building the Gardens, I don’t know.”

Less mysterious were the other items inside the time capsule: A four-page typewritten letter from the directors of Maple Leaf Gardens that describes the building and technology behind the ice; a four-page stock prospectus for Maple Leaf Gardens; three hockey rule books; a 1931 Toronto Municipal handbook; a Red Ensign; and four newspapers from Sept. 21, 1931.

The newspapers from the Globe, Mail and Empire, Toronto Daily Star, and Evening Telegraph, bore headlines reflecting the national and global struggles from the Great Depression.

The box itself measures 30 centimetres by 20 cm by 20 cm, and is engraved on its inner lid with a name, address and date: M.B. Campbell, 124 Lindsay Ave, 9/21/31.

To mark recent events, a new time capsule is being created by the building’s owners, Loblaws and Ryerson University, to be placed in the Peter Gilgan Athletic Centre prior to its completion, but the contents are still to be determined.

Also inside the box were:

• A four-page typewritten letter from the directors of Maple Leaf Gardens that describes the building and the technology behind the ice

• A four-page stock prospectus for Maple Leaf Gardens

• A 1930-31 official NHL rule book

• The 1931 official hockey rules of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association